After years of voter complaints about the lack of high-speed internet access, Arkansas legislators have passed a bill to repeal the ban on cities and towns building their own broadband networks; Gov. Asa Hutchinson says he will sign it. Such locally sourced networks are an increasingly popular and effective way to bring broadband to rural communities, Nick Keppler reports for CityLab.
Other states with similar bans may follow suit, including North Carolina, Keppler reports. The Arkansas ban went hand in hand with federal subsidies to encourage telecoms to expand broadband. The Federal Communications Commission gave $250 million in subsidies to AT&T, Windstream and CenturyLink for Arkansas broadband, but it didn't work, Keppler reports.
State Sen. Breanna Davis, a Republican who co-sponsored the bill, observed, "We were one of the five states that had the most restrictive laws [on municipal broadband] in the nation . . . and almost last in broadband." Instead, Arkansans are losing out on remote jobs, can't do homework or take online classes, and some have trouble selling houses because buyers want a neighborhood with good internet, Keppler reports.
The new law won't give municipalities complete control to set up networks. They'll have to get a grant or loan from a second party, which Davis hopes will allow rural towns to get funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's $600 million e-Connectivity pilot program., Keppler reports.
"That this is happening at all is significant. That it’s happening in a deep-red state is perhaps monumental," Keppler reports. "Arkansas outlawed municipal broadband in 2011 as a wave of other states passed similar laws. It was, in part, a factor of the Tea Party movement, which ushered small-government Republicans into state capitols. By 2018, 21 states had some law banning or restricting municipal broadband; many were cut-and-paste 'model legislation' from the American Legislative Exchange Council, backed partly by telecom giants. They sought to kill municipal broadband under the belief" that government shouldn't compete with the private sector.
Other states with similar bans may follow suit, including North Carolina, Keppler reports. The Arkansas ban went hand in hand with federal subsidies to encourage telecoms to expand broadband. The Federal Communications Commission gave $250 million in subsidies to AT&T, Windstream and CenturyLink for Arkansas broadband, but it didn't work, Keppler reports.
State Sen. Breanna Davis, a Republican who co-sponsored the bill, observed, "We were one of the five states that had the most restrictive laws [on municipal broadband] in the nation . . . and almost last in broadband." Instead, Arkansans are losing out on remote jobs, can't do homework or take online classes, and some have trouble selling houses because buyers want a neighborhood with good internet, Keppler reports.
The new law won't give municipalities complete control to set up networks. They'll have to get a grant or loan from a second party, which Davis hopes will allow rural towns to get funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's $600 million e-Connectivity pilot program., Keppler reports.
"That this is happening at all is significant. That it’s happening in a deep-red state is perhaps monumental," Keppler reports. "Arkansas outlawed municipal broadband in 2011 as a wave of other states passed similar laws. It was, in part, a factor of the Tea Party movement, which ushered small-government Republicans into state capitols. By 2018, 21 states had some law banning or restricting municipal broadband; many were cut-and-paste 'model legislation' from the American Legislative Exchange Council, backed partly by telecom giants. They sought to kill municipal broadband under the belief" that government shouldn't compete with the private sector.
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